This invention relates generally to a baler for forming cylindrical bales of crop material, commonly referred to as a round baler. More particularly, this invention is directed to a telescopic twine arm for round baler twine wrapping apparatus.
Balers of this type have a bale forming chamber defined by an apron comprising an array of belts chains, and/or rolls within which the cylindrical bale is formed. Crop material such as hay is picked up from the ground as the baler traverses the field and is then fed into the chamber to be rolled up to form a cylindrical bale. Wrapping apparatus is provided for binding the bale inside the bale forming chamber before the bale is discharged onto the ground for subsequent handling. This apparatus commonly utilizes one or more twine dispensing arms to feed twine to the circumference of the formed bale to helically wrap twine around the bale as the bale is turned in the chamber.
There have been various approaches to improve the twine wrapping operation of round balers. For example, it is important that the initial free end of the strand, commonly referred to as the "tail", is positioned as close as possible to the nip between the outer surface of the bale and the apron to assure that at the initiation of the wrapping operation the twine is immediately and properly dispensed to the circumference of the bale being wrapped. In most prior art round balers the wrapping apparatus is typically mounted in the vicinity of the crop infeed area to permit the twine dispensing arm to swing in close to the formed bale where significant amounts of dust and debris are common, especially during dry field conditions. There are detrimental effects caused by such dust and debris which effect increases the closer the apparatus is mounted to the baling chamber where the crop material is being agitated by the roll forming mechanism. The abrasive characteristics of this dust and debris can and in fact do cause serious wear problems when it comes in contact with the wrapping apparatus which commonly comprises various intermeshing and moving mechanisms arranged to effectively guide and dispense the twine across the baling chamber infeed area. Thus, for the purpose of reliability and functionality it is important to initially place the twine tail close to the infeed area but as a consequence the apparatus must be mounted in an area that leads to wear problems and thereby affects the durability of the baler.